Supreme Court upholds ruling on college graduation prayers

October 7, 1997 9:00am

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (JTA) – The Supreme Court has rejected a constitutional challenge to Indiana University’s custom of having a clergy member offer prayers as part of its official commencement ceremony. The justices, without comment, turned away arguments Monday that the state school’s custom violates the constitutionally required separation between church and state. The high court ruled in 1992 that clergy members could not lead such prayers at public grade school or high school graduation ceremonies. But the decision said the rule might not apply to officially sponsored prayers at a public university or a city council meeting. The court let stand a U.S. appeals court ruling, which noted that the university’s practice “has prevailed for 155 years and is widespread throughout the nation.” “The university’s inclusion of a brief, non-sectarian invocation and benediction does not have a primary effect of endorsing” religion, the appeals court said. “There is no excessive entanglement of church and state.” Marc Stern, co-director of the American Jewish Congress’ legal department, called the Supreme Court ruling “unfortunate but predictable.” He stressed, however, that the justices’ refusal to hear the case should not be viewed as a “weakening of the court’s position” on prayer at elementary and secondary school graduation ceremonies.